Arena of the Undead
by AriaNight
Summary: Imprisoned and proclaimed a traitor to her own kind, Rose is fighting for her life in a high security prison where she has to face some of the most dangerous Strigoi alive/undead? in a fight of combat skills. My Take on Last  Sacrifice. Plz Plz Plz review


_Ok this is my First Ever Fanfic so don't blame me if i stuff up okay? Okay I don't know if i will continue this story, depends on how much interest i get... Before i start (assuming you didn't skip forward to the story and then say "this is crap" or something along those lines then split to find something else) i would like to make a shout out my friend Tabatha who wanted to read this when i mentioned it one FB. You made my self-esteem do a happy dance _

_BTW my portrayal of Rose and the other characters personality might be way of target, I'm srry but I'm better when I'm writing my own chars ones :/_

_Warning- i think there's a bit of language somewhere in here..._

_Okay, Onwards! To Adventure!_

_(i think that's it?)_

Disclaimer- The Vampire Academy Series, and all its characters from it, is owned by Richelle Mead. No infringement is intended.

**Chapter 1**

I stepped into the arena filled with dread.

Black pillars surrounded a large dirt-covered space, between each pillar was barbed wire extending from one side to the other all around the walls of the arena.

Well, escape was out of the picture.

Not that i was even _thinking_ of escaping. Bitter thought after Bitter thought invaded my mind.

The two guards, Mr spits-on-shoes-until-their-see-through and dreadlocks, well that's what i called them. Both put a heavy hand on my shoulders and pushed me abruptly into the arena, i reluctantly walked into the open till i stopped at the centre. I could see a large door on the opposite side of the arena, clad in a black iron arch fitted into the barbed wire pillars. Dimitri could have knocked it down without a problem, assuming he would break it down to save me, which i really doubted if he was playing goody-two-shoes and has lost the ability of loving me.

Dimitri...

My heart ached all over again as it always did when i thought of Dimitri.

I was a wreck. even Lissa hadn't seen me in this state, broken down hopeless and proclaimed a traitor by my own people.

This was surely what Rhonda, the gypsy had said to me as she told me my future using her Tarot Cards. No, wait, _Roma, _she'd corrected me, not gypsy. I internally made a snark remark to myself, chastising myself for not concentrating on my dilemma at hand. But I seriously didn't care right now.

A Two of Cups, that was the first card she had shown me, it had shown a man and a woman together in a grassy, flower-filled field and the sun shone above them, but it was upside down. Big surprise there, I knew what it meant without Rhonda having to tell me, my relationship with Dimitri had always been upside down and twisted since i'd pretty much met him. Well, it might as well had been me and Dimitri on that stupid card.

The second card had been a Queen of Swords, also upside down , obviously, everything was upside down lately. Rhonda had said that that card referred to a specific person. She'd interpreted the cards meaning by saying:

"The Queen Of Swords is clever. She thrives on knowledge, can outwit her enemies, and is ambitious."

I'd pretty much figured who the queen of swords was, but I'd still been a bit confused until Rhonda continued:

"But upside down, all the traits are twisted, she is still smart...still trying to get her way, but she's doing through insincere ways. There's a lot of hostility and deception here."

The gypsy had said i'd had an enemy as well.

I had been very sure about who that enemy had been. I'd called her a sanctimonious bitch in front of the high court, i'd also said she'd regret everything she had done. THAT, i guess was the quote that had turned the odds against me.

It had also wound me up in a high security prison, proclaimed by false accusations.

Eight Of Swords, unlucky number three, just great.

it had a whole bunch of swords stuck in the ground and a woman had been tied and blindfolded to one. I really hadn't wanted to think about what it meant, it kind of gave me a sickening feeling. The next one had meant an action-filled journey, i wasn't sure that was a good thing.

The last Tarot card had been the most mysterious, even Rhonda had not understood it's meaning The Page Of Cups was the most disturbing, a person was centred on the card, the gender wasn't clear enough to decipher, but it meant something like either King, Queen, Knight and then Page. As in the Page being the most trust-worthy one.

So altogether, the cards had relayed heartache, an enemy, accusations, Entrapment, travel, and a trusted one. Probably not in that order.

So now, im standing in the middle of an arena, awaiting whatever challenges their going to give me as punishment. As i waited, i glanced around to fully assess my surroundings, only then did i notice i had an audience to my right. Familiar faces looked bake at me grimly, unhappily.

Fantastic. Now i was entertainment, like watching a mouse trying to find it's way through a simple maze.

I recognised a number of people, Alberta, guardians from Vladimir's, Christian, Mia, Adrian, Tomas, My father, My mother and to my own heartbreaking dismay, Lissa and Dimitri as well. Lissa and Dimitri were standing apart from everyone else and close to the wire wall separating them from me. Dimitri had his hands in fists, anger obviously exulting through the space from him to me.

They were all here to witness my downfall and final defeat. This hurt more than any physical pain or injury i would gain in by whatever would oppose me in my fight for life. Not that they would even let me live, i'd be fighting until i fell.

Suddenly, i whipped around when i sensed an enemy in my ephemeral vision, and a big lurch of nausea to then see before me a damned strigoi.

Then we fought.

And i staked him.

The black-iron door opened and another Strigoi entered to confront me. I braced myself for what i expected was a continuous line of fighting.

Strigoi after strigoi i killed them and i was determined to forget my audience, who watched wordlessly. Well except for Lissa, she cried out every time a strigoi tried to catch me unguarded and unawares when i was against more than one at a time, sometimes i was against six or eight, but i dispatched them all. One by one.

As i staked the last Strigoi of a group of five, he fell down like a sack of flour, i glanced down at the ground and surrounding me was scattered corpses everywhere, i was also covered with blood and i think one of my knuckles on my on my right hand was broken. I clenched the stake in my hand and pain flared up my arm like fire.

Yep, definitely broken.

It was almost two or three hours after the first strigoi had fallen. I was very tired, but i refused to falter or show hints i was getting fatigued. I'd glimpsed Dimitri whenever I had to rotate his direction and he stared at me with an incomprehensible expression on his face. Now i looked to my audience when it appeared the line of strigoi was on hold for a while.

Dimitri had his hands clenched and contracted on the over the sharp barbed-wire, his expression showed he didn't feel, nor care about the pain and abrasions this was causing him, he was looking at me almost painfully, but with pride too, I didn't completely feel proud of what i'd done, i was only defending myself, i looked away before i was tempted to see Lissa, I didn't want to see the fear or anguish on her face, i could feel it through the bond.

As i looked away i saw the black-iron door open to admit two guards and a smaller figure between them caught my attention as her bright red eyes bore into mine.

No, no, no, no...

I wasn't going to believe i was going to stake and kill this child, Strigoi or not, i couldn't raise my stake to this little girl.

Her bright red childlike eyes flitted away from mine and fixed on Dimitri, who had said something aloud in astonishment, as had everyone in my audience. The girls eyes riveted on him and stayed there for so long that i think i could have staked her in that time.

As fast as my eyes could follow, she threw back here arms and sent the guardians flying in the air and landing halfway down the barbed-wire wall, where they stuck and then dropped to the ground. The little girl was walking towards Dimitri, slowly and gracefully.

Now i couldn't have that! This was my fight.

I walked towards her confidently. She stopped her advance on Dimitri and rotated her head around to star at me. Truly this was like a child's game.

She faced me, deciding to kill me first. Well that was just fine with me.

She fought like a cat being thwacked with an electric prod. She was more defensive than offensive as i tried to find an opening, i think we were dancing around and circling each other like this for at least half an hour. She was an old strigoi, that much was obvious, she knew how to control her strength and speed which made her a lethal opponent to face, especially in my fatigued physical and mental state.

She got the jump on me rarely, but she still continued twisting and evading me.

I was so tired...

I was slowing down, and she could see that too, she smiled sweetly up at me with innocence that only a young child could do. I faltered and she sent me flying to the door i had entered to the arena so long ago, the impact jarred my body and i slumped heavily to the ground, every part of my body was aflame with pain in that instant and i knew it would only increase the more i moved my muscles, so i just layed there and closed my eyes, embracing the agony inside and waited for the child to kill me as i lay there defenceless as ever.

A few seconds went past, believe me, it seemed like years i had my eyes closed and waiting for the final blow, which never happened. I opened my eyes to see the child strigoi being restrained by the guards that brought her in. Her eyes were blazing redder than ever i'd seen, she snarled at me with disappointment clear on her face. Well that made one of us. They shoved and struggled with her as she tried to resist but soon gave up to the inevitable.

Frail and weak as i was, i attempted to stand up and regain some form of dignity i'd lost to my audience. I fell back on the ground bonelessly.

Darkness crept in and everything went black.

My eyes opened to see i was in a cell, not in the Ball Room i had been in my dream. My eyes adjusted more and I tried to sit up against the cement wall my body had been placed while i had been unconscious. I wasn't alone.

Dimitri was leaned against the wall opposite me, his head in his hands, i didn't know why he was in the cell with me, for once i didn't want him near me. As if he had sensed my gaze, he lifted his head to catch my eyes with his.

No! Not again.

I looked away and stared at the wall.

We were silent for what seemed like years, i examined my injuries, my knuckle healing but other than that i was just slightly numb with subdued pain which i guessed was from being thrown onto the door. Dimitri broke the silence.

"Rose..."

"Don't, not here, not now." i interjected him.

I almost felt the rage that came from him like a shock from an electric prod to my heart.

He shot up from his positions against the wall.

"What do you want me to say?" fists clenched and with an expression of frustration, his large figure loomed above me, casting me into his shadow 0f fury.

The same rage bubbled up inside me and I launched myself on my feet to mirror his stance.

"Nothing! I don't want you to say anything! "

I didn't look at his eyes, or his face. One look, and i would suddenly, without restraint, burst into shameless tears.


End file.
